In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, spending by governments on public infrastructure repairs might actually provide a welcome boost to the economy, but we shouldn't need a damaging storm to make that happen. There are already plenty of pressing infrastructure projects that governments could fund which would improve the economic situation.

To suggest that the response to the storm impact might improve the economy is not to suggest that the storm is somehow a good thing, but a quick mobilization of resources to complete necessary repairs could temporarily boost employment and improve business for companies producing and selling construction materials. There would also be additional multiplier effects of this spending on the economy, as workers and business owners spend their increased wages and profits.

But this could be true even absent widespread storm damage. Speeding up other infrastructure repair projects would also put people back to work. For example, many cities have aging water systems that experience regular costly water main breaks. These projects don't need costly studies or lengthy environmental impact reports and could be implemented almost immediately. Buy materials, dig up the streets, replace the pipes, repair the streets and pay your workers. They are truly shovel ready projects in need of funding.

Sadly, fiscal austerity is all the rage in Washington, and state and local governments are limited in their ability to raise additional revenues and enact additional spending in a depressed economy. There are 575,000 fewer public sector jobs than there were when President Barack Obama was inaugurated. These job losses have been a drag on the economy, hindering the recovery.

But it doesn't have to be this way. The federal government could provide additional money to state and local governments to fund improvements in public infrastructure, putting people back to work doing useful and necessary things and boosting the overall economy in the process.

This was the basic thinking behind much of what was in the American Reconstruction and Reinvestment Act, commonly know as the stimulus, which also included significant tax cuts and other provisions. But the size of the stimulus was too small, and as spending provisions began to fade so did its positive impact on the economy.

It isn't yet clear how much damage Sandy will do, how quickly and completely state and local governments will respond to repair that damage, or how much federal aid will be forthcoming, but repairing the infrastructure damage will create jobs. There is a lot of public infrastructure in this country. Repair it, and help repair the economy.

Duncan Black writes the blog Eschaton under the pseudonym ofAtrios and is a fellow at Media Matters for America. He holds a doctorate in economics.

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